1958, Adolph Gottlieb, Transfiguration III -- Stanford University Museums (Palo Alto)
From the museum label:
Prior to the Andersons acquiring Figure 8 and Transfiguration III,
the works were in the personal collection of William Rubin, who was then Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. These bold, monumental compositions are signature works by key figures of Abstract Expressionism. Kline's arresting composition (on the wall to the right) features vigorous black and white brushstrokes that capture the energy of the physical act of painting. The striking slashes of black coalesce into a calligraphic figure eight, while the white strokes, equally expressive, refuse to recede to the background. Despite the apparent spontaneity of the artist's sweeping gestures, Kline made several small studies in preparation for this work.
Gottlieb's Transfiguration III expresses of a different kind of energy. It is a "burst" painting, a typology Gottlieb conceived in 1957 that juxtaposes two shapes on a vertical axis. Set against a stark background, a haloed red oval hovers above a nest of black brushstrokes. The title alludes to the biblical account of Jesus Christ's metamorphosis on a mountain, during which his body became radiant with divine light as his disciples looked on from below. Gottlieb conveys the essence of this event through the composition's contrasting abstract forms.
1958, Adolph Gottlieb, Transfiguration III -- Stanford University Museums (Palo Alto)
From the museum label:
Prior to the Andersons acquiring Figure 8 and Transfiguration III,
the works were in the personal collection of William Rubin, who was then Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. These bold, monumental compositions are signature works by key figures of Abstract Expressionism. Kline's arresting composition (on the wall to the right) features vigorous black and white brushstrokes that capture the energy of the physical act of painting. The striking slashes of black coalesce into a calligraphic figure eight, while the white strokes, equally expressive, refuse to recede to the background. Despite the apparent spontaneity of the artist's sweeping gestures, Kline made several small studies in preparation for this work.
Gottlieb's Transfiguration III expresses of a different kind of energy. It is a "burst" painting, a typology Gottlieb conceived in 1957 that juxtaposes two shapes on a vertical axis. Set against a stark background, a haloed red oval hovers above a nest of black brushstrokes. The title alludes to the biblical account of Jesus Christ's metamorphosis on a mountain, during which his body became radiant with divine light as his disciples looked on from below. Gottlieb conveys the essence of this event through the composition's contrasting abstract forms.